Cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike will all agree that 2023 in Hollywood was a hell of a roller coaster ride, one that culminated in a remarkable $9 billion box office bonanza. Between strikes and newly struggling studios that used to ride high, it definitely was a year to remember. Let’s take a look, bit by bit.
Starting with Warner Bros. and its festive trio, Wonka, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and the musical spin on The Color Purple, raked in over $700 million in December alone. However, earlier in the year, it managed to hit a home run with arguably the year’s most hyped film, Barbie, grossing a whopping $1.44 billion, and making it the highest-grossing film of the year.
Shockingly, Warner Bros. was not the biggest winner in 2023. That title goes to Universal Pictures, the dark horse that galloped past Warner Bros. to snatch the top spot at the domestic box office for the first time since 2015.
Its secret sauce was a recipe made up of Nintendo’s video game adaptation Super Mario Bros. Movie, Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic Oppenheimer, Fast X, and the supernatural horror film Five Nights at Freddy’s. This all added up to an incredible $1.93 billion.
Meanwhile, Disney, the once undisputed king of the box office, had to settle for the second spot with $1.89 billion. Its rather mediocre collection of films included Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, Pixar animation Elemental, Haunted Mansion, and the all-female-led MCU film, The Marvels.
Warner Bros. would have easily been sitting far worse than third place with $1.4 billion, were it not for its doll sensation Barbie. Wonka, The Nun II, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom tried to make up for the studio’s erratic year, but they couldn’t outweigh the gravity pull of DC duds, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle.
Ultimately, it wasn’t just these big studios making waves. Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4, Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom, and AMC Theatres’ Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film all made it to the top 10 domestic box office list of 2023.
Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s Senior Media Analyst, summed it up best: “Hitting $9 billion is more than just about dollars and cents.” As many will recall, the industry faced one of the most tumultuous years ever, including the double Hollywood strikes that paralyzed the entertainment industry. Yet, amidst all this, the cinematic experience stood its ground, proving it’s still an essential part of our insatiable entertainment diet.
Now that we’ve rolled credits on a historic box office year, Hollywood filmmakers would do well to remember that it’s not just about the glitz and glamor of the red carpet. It’s the undying love for impactful storytelling that keeps those theater seats warm.
